Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
1990, Vol. 58, No. 1,156-163
Copyright 1990 by the American Psychological Association, Inc.
0022-3514/90/$00.75
Role of Cognitive-Emotional Mediators and Individual Differences
in the Effects of Media Violence on Aggression
Brad J. Bushman and Russell G. Geen
University of Missouri
Two experiments were conducted to test the hypothesis that observation of media violence elicits
thoughts and emotional responses related to aggression. In Experiment 1, highly violent videotapes
elicited more aggressive cognitions than did a less violent tape. This effect was moderated by the
trait of stimulus screening. In Experiment 2, aggressivecognitions increased with the level of violence
in the videotape, and physical assaultiveness influenced this effect. Hostility and systolic blood pressure were higher in response to the most violent video than in response to the other two. Hostility
was influenced by emotional susceptibility and dissipation-rumination, and systolic blood pressure
was influenced by emotional susceptibility and assaultiveness.
sion. Huesmann (1986) suggested that, when children observe
violence in the mass media, they learn aggressive scripts for social behavior. Once a script has been learned, it may be retrieved
at some later time as a guide for behavior, such as in situations
of interpersonal conflict that closely resemble conflicts seen in
the media presentation. A line of reasoning similar to that of
Huesmann was followed by Berkowitz (1984), according to
whom "the aggressive ideas suggested by a violent movie can
prime other semantically related thoughts, heightening the
chances that viewers will have other aggressive ideas in this period" (p. 411). In addition, thoughts are linked, along the same
sort of associative lines, to emotional reactions and behavioral
tendencies (Bower, 1981; Lang, 1979). Thus, observation of
movie violence can engender a complex of associations consisting of aggressive ideas, emotions related to violence, and the
impetus for aggressive actions.
To date, only a few studies have been designed as direct tests
of the notion of cognitive priming of associative networks related to aggression (Berkowitz & Heimer, 1989; Rule, Taylor,
& Dobbs, 1987). Furthermore, even though these studies have
reported findings that support the hypothesis, none have involved the use of aggressive presentations of media stimuli.
Thus, the idea advanced by Berkowitz (1984) on the role of such
stimuli as primes for aggressive thoughts and feelings remains
untested.l The major purpose of the studies reported in this
article was to test that idea.
Our studies were also motivated by a secondary interest.
Among the many issues raised by research on the effects of media violence, one that has received relatively little attention is
that of the possible moderating role played by individual differences. This lack of emphasis is surprising, not only because of
the overall interest in individual differences now current in the
The study of violence in the mass media, especially with regard to the effects that viewing such violence may have on behavior, continues to generate interest among psychologists after
almost three decades (e.g., Huesmann & Malamuth, 1986). Despite considerable evidence that viewing violence may, under
some circumstances, facilitate the emission of aggression, theoretical explanations for such findings have tended to be limited
and inconclusive (Geen & Thomas, 1986). For example, the
most popular theory at present appears to be based on disinhibitory processes: Observation of stimuli associated with violence
somehow reduces inhibitions against the aggression that would
otherwise be elicited by other features of the situation, such as
interpersonal provocation or conflict. Although this explanation probably accounts for some media-related aggression, it
fails to stipulate exactly what constitutes "disinhibition." At
any rate, explaining the effects of media violence in terms of
reduced inhibition alone requires ruling out the possibility of
any active role played by such stimuli in aggression.
In recent years, two alternative explanations for the effects
of observing media violence have been proposed. In both, it is
assumed that the stimuli thus observed play an active role in
enacting certain cognitive processes that eventuate in aggres-
The experiments reported in this article were conducted in partial
fulfillment of Brad J, Bushman's requirements for the degree of Master
of Arts in psychology at the University of Missouri. A portion of the
results of Experiment 1 were presented at the Annual Convention of
the Midwestern Psychological Association, May 1988, and a portion of
the results of Experiment 2 were presented at the Annual Convention
of the American Psychological Association, August 1988.
We express sincere appreciation to Richard Petty for his help with
the thought listing procedure, to Don Kausler for recommending the
nonviolent thought analyses, to James Holstein for assistance with statistical analyses of the data, to Rex Wright for instruction on cardiovascular measurements, and to Melissa Blumenfeld and Linda Lierz for
rating the violent thoughts.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Brad
J. Bushman or Russell G. Geen, Department of Psychology,University
of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri 65211.
It should be emphasized that Berkowitz's theory, and research designed to test it, pertains to what is commonly called affective aggression
(i.e., aggression that is animated, or accompanied, by an emotional state
and that is largely reactive in nature). This theory may not be applicable
to instrumental aggression. See Geen (1989) for a discussion of this distinction.
156
MEDIA VIOLENCE, PERSONALITY, AND STATE AGGRESSION
field but also because of the allegation, often made by persons
associated with the mass media, that observed violence affects
the behavior of only certain persons who are highly aggressive
by nature. In the two experiments reported herein, we attempted to find whether certain personality variables served as
moderators of the cognitive and affective processes predicted by
the cognitive-neoassociationist model.
The lack of interest in personality as a variable in media-related aggression can be attributed to several causes. One is lack
of agreement on means of assessing aggressiveness. Although
this disposition seems to be measurable, none of the scales purported to do so have been widely accepted as valid (Edmunds
& Kendrick, 1980). Another reason has been the tendency of
social psychologists to place a relatively greater emphasis on situational determinants of aggression than on stable characteristics of persons. Still another has been the absence, until recently,
of coherent theories of media-elicited aggression within which
personality constructs can be embedded. Although numerous
theories have been available (e.g., Bandura, 1973; Berkowitz,
1974; Zillmann, 1979), none have specifically addressed the
role of personality, nor have any suggested clearly which personality variables might moderate the situational effects being described.
Some recent developments indicate, however, that the study
of personality factors in media-related aggression may now be
feasible. Aggressive tendencies over time and situations have
been shown to be more stable than was previously believed (e.g.,
Huesmann, Eron, Lefkowitz, & Walder, 1984; Olweus, 1979).
In addition, Caprara and his associates have produced a set of
scales that appear to have some power and validity for assessing
traits related to aggressive behavior. One such scale measures
irritability, defined as the "tendency to react impulsively, controversially or rudely at the slightest provocation or disagreement" (Caprara, Cinanni, D'Imperio, Passerini, Renzi, & Travaglia, 1985, p. 667). Irritability has been shown to be a moderator of aggressive reactions to disparaging or insulting remarks
from another person (Caprara & Renzi, 198 l; Caprara, Renzi,
Alcini, D'Imperio, & Travaglia, 1983; Caprara, Renzi, Amolini, D'Imperio, & Travaglia, 1984; Caprara, Renzi, D'Augello,
D'Imperio, Rielli, & Travaglia, 1986).
A second trait variable, emotional susceptibility, is defined as
the tendency to "experience feelings of discomfort, helplessness, inadequacy and vulnerability" (Caprara et al., 1985, p.
667). Persons who score high on this scale have been found to
be more aggressive than low scorers, but the variable does not
interact with provocation, as does irritability (Caprara, 1982;
Caprara et al., 1983, 1986). Emotional susceptibility may reflect a generalized tendency to experience negative affect, which
can be an antecedent of aggression in and of itself (Berkowitz,
1983; Berkowitz, Cochran, & Embree, 1981). A third variable,
dissipation-rumination, describes individual differences in
tendencies to "harbor and even to enhance, with the passing of
time, feelings and desires of vengeance" (Caprara, 1986, p.
765). Although less research has been conducted on this variable than on the other two, the results from two studies have
shown that persons who are low dissipators-high ruminators
are more verbally hostile following an insult than are similarly
insulted high dissipators-low ruminators (Caprara, 1986).
Berkowitz's (1984) associationist theory is especially suitable
157
as a scheme into which personality variables can be assimilated.
Individual differences in aggressiveness, as measured by selfreport inventories, are a reflection of past instances of aggressive acts, thoughts, motives, and emotions as the individual recalls them. They are therefore rooted in the network of associations that provides the basis for the priming function of violent
stimuli. We predict, therefore, that individual differences in aggressiveness interact with the presence of violent stimuli in the
elicitation of related aggressive thoughts, emotional states, and
action tendencies. Highly aggressive people should manifest
all of these responses to violent cues more than less aggressive
people.
A study reported by Josephson (1987) was designed in part
to test the role of individual differences in the priming process.
The context of the study was a game of field hockey played by
young boys, some of whom, prior to the game, had seen a display of violence on television. Some of the boys were then interviewed by people who carried walkie-talkies, an instrument
that had been carried by the aggressors in the program just seen.
Josephson predicted that boys who had seen the violent video
and who then later saw a walkie-talkie would be more aggressive
than those who saw the violent movie but not the walkie-talkie.
Josephson reasoned that the walkie-talkie, which had been associated with violence in the video, would serve as a cue to
prime other aggressive thoughts and emotions, in the way described by Berkowitz (1984). This prediction was supported,
but only among highly aggressive boys. This finding is not surprising if we consider that highly aggressive boys possess a relatively large network of aggressive associations that can be activated by a cue.
Experiment 1
A more direct test of Berkowitz's (1984) point of view, as well
as of its extension to the study of individual differences in aggressiveness, requires a demonstration of individual differences
in cognitive and emotional reactions to observed displays of violence. Included in such a demonstration must be an assessment of the thoughts and emotional reactions that subjects experience while watching violence. The two experiments reported herein represent attempts at such direct assessment. In
the first, subjects were shown either a nonviolent videotape or
a tape showing one of several predetermined levels of violence.
Subjects were then instructed to list the thoughts that they could
recall having as they watched the tape and, finally, to rate the
scene they had witnessed on a number of dimensions, including
a violence dimension. Several personality variables were assessed by means of a self-report questionnaire filled out by each
subject during the laboratory session. The questionnaire included scales assessing trait variables related to aggressiveness
and stimulus sensitivity. The influence of each oftbe trait variables on both number of aggressive thoughts and violence ratings of the videotape was tested using multiple regression analysis.
Method
Subjects
Fifty men and 50 women served as subjects; all were undergraduate
psychologystudents who participated to earn class credit. Ten subjects
158
BRAD J. BUSHMAN AND RUSSELL G. GEEN
of each sex were randomly assigned to see one of five videotapes that
varied in violent content.
Videotapes
Five tapes, each approximately 10 min in length, were selected from
a number of tapes in the authors' laboratory and scaled for violence
level prior to the experiment. Each tape had been recorded from either
a commercial or cable television channel. Eighty subjects drawn from
the same population as those who would later serve in the experiment
acted as judges. Scaling was by the method of paired comparisons (Guilford, 1954). A constant was added to the standardized scale value of
each tape so that the one rated most violent attained a scale score of
10.00. The five tapes, with their respective scale scores, were segments
of the following movies or programs.
The Vigilante(10.00). A group of drug dealers mercilessly kill or
maim those who resist or frustrate them, often in a gross and excessive
way (e.g., with machine guns).
48 Hours(9.21). Several gun battles are shown, some in slow motion,
with vivid details of the physical effects of the bullets.
The French Connection(8.54). A police officer pursues a murderer
in a high-speed chase during which the murderer kills another person.
The scene ends with the policeman shooting the killer dead. The shootings are not portrayed in an especially graphic way.
Soylent Green (8.18). A man attempts to evade several armed men
who are chasing him. Fistfights and struggles involving guns and knives
are shown, but the physical aspects of violence are not heavily emphasized.
"Dallas'"(5.26). In a scene containing no physical violence, several
members of a family discuss business and a forthcoming wedding.
Personality Variables
The personality questionnaire consisted of the following scales:
1. Irritability (Caprara et al., 1985). The scale contains 20 items
along with a 6-point Likert-type scale for each item ranging from 5
(completely truefor me) to 0 (completelyfalsefor me). The coefficient
alpha for the scale is .81, the split-half correlation is .90, and the testretest correlation is .83. 2
2. Assault and Verbal Hostility (Buss & Durkee, 1957). Buss (1961)
described the Assault and Verbal Hostility subscales as indicators of active direct aggressiveness. Bendig (1962), in a factor-analytic study of the
inventory, found a factor of Overt Hostility, which contained primarily
Assault and Verbal Hostility items. The Assault scale contains 10 true/
false items, and the Verbal Hostility scale contains 13 true/false items.
The test-retest correlations for the Assault and Verbal Hostility scales
are .78 and .72, respectively.
3. Stimulus Screening (Mehrabian, 1976). This 40-item scale was included to assess any tendencies on the subject's part to defend against
stimulation arising from the videotape by engaging in selective attention. High screeners might, by blocking out stimuli, prevent or restrict
the activation of associated networks. Each item on the Stimulus
Screening scale is rated along a 9-point Likert scale ranging from +4
(very strongagreement) to - 4 (verystrongdisagreement). The KuderRichardson reliability coefficient for the scale is .92.
Dependent Variables
The main dependent variable in the experiment was the number of
aggressive thoughts listed by the subject immediately after observation
of the videotape (Cacioppo & Petty, 1981). Each subject was told to
"record only those ideas that you were thinking about while watching
the television segment?' The subject was also instructed to express each
idea as briefly as possible and not to bother with grammar or spelling.
Three minutes were allowed for this procedure. A cover sheet explained
that the thought-listing questionnaire was part of a study on evaluation of the mass media being conducted jointly with the School of Journalism,
A second dependent variable was the subject's violence rating of the
videotape. Immediately after completing the thought-listing procedure,
each subject filled out a set of 5-point rating scales indicating the degree
to which the videotape had been enjoyable, amusing, realistic, and violent. A number of additional ratings were added as fillers (e.g., whether
the subject thought the film should be shown on television). This measure was included because findings of a previous study (Geen, 1985)
indicated that ratings of movie violence were affected by personality
variables associated with aggressiveness.
Procedure
Subjects participated in groups of 5 persons or fewer. The size of the
group did not influence either the number of aggressive thoughts listed
or the violence ratings. Participants were seated in cubicles constructed
so that no subject could have verbal or visual contact with the others.
Each subject could see the television monitor clearly from his or her
cubicle. As already noted, the study was described as one on media
evaluation. After consent was obtained, half of the subjects filled out the
personality questionnaire, watched the videotape, and completed the
thought-listing and rating questionnaires in that order. The other half
saw the videotape first, then filled out the thought-listing, rating, and
personality questionnaires in that order. In this way, the personality assessment and observation of the videotape were counterbalanced for
order of presentation. All subjects were debriefed following the end of
the session.
Results
Assumptions and Manipulation Checks
Reliability of thought-listing ratings. Two independent raters,
who were blind to experimental conditions and to the hypotheses o f the study, tabulated the number of aggressive thoughts
listed by each subject. A violent thought was operationally defined as any word having aggressive connotations (e.g., kill, stab,
hit, wound). Each rater was trained in recognition of violent or
aggressive words. The coefficient o f reliability between raters
was highly significant, r(98) = .87, p < .0001, and ratings for
each subject were accordingly averaged.
Nonviolent thoughts. The incidence of nonviolent thoughts
elicited by each video was analyzed in order to discover possible
effects of the videos on generalized arousal. It was assumed that
if the effects of the videos was merely to produce differing levels
of excitement or arousal, then this should have led to differential
energization of both violent and nonviolent thoughts. An analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed no significant difference in the
number of nonviolent thoughts listed across the five videotape
conditions, F = 0.50. In addition, none o f the personality variables significantly influenced nonviolent thoughts.
Violent thought transformation. Because subjects who
viewed the segment from "Dallas" rarely listed any aggressive
thoughts, the constant variance assumption was violated. A
2 The Irritability subscale of the Hostility Inventory of Buss & Durkee
(1957) was also used in Experiment 1. The results from this scale are
similar to, but weaker than, the results from the Irritability scale of Caprara et al. ( 1985).
MEDIA VIOLENCE, PERSONALITY, AND STATE AGGRESSION
cube-root transformation was therefore used to stabilize the
variances. The transformation was fairly successful as determined by Hartley's (1950) test for homogeneity of variances,
Fmax(5, 19) = 4.5, p > .01. All analyses of violent thoughts were
based on the transformed data.
Order of presentation. An ANOVA was used to determine
whether the order in which observation of the video and response to the personality questionnaire influenced the emission
of aggressive thoughts and ratings of violence. No significant
effects for order of presentation were found, and the data for the
two orders were combined for subsequent analyses.
Influence o f Videotape Content and Individual
Differences on Violent Cognitions
Both ratings of violence and violent thoughts were conceptually designed to measure a common construct, violent cognitions. These measures were also highly correlated, r(98) = .82,
p < .0001. Therefore, multivariate multiple regression analysis
was performed to assess the effects of video content, gender, and
personality on both measures simultaneously. The Pillai-Bartlett trace statistic was used to test the individual terms in the
multivariate regression model (cf. Olson, 1976). Separate univariate regression models were then fitted for aggressive
thoughts and violence ratings. Although no single practice is
generally accepted for examining interaction terms in multiple
regression analysis, some researchers advocate the use of the
deviation of a raw score from its mean rather than the raw score
itself(e.g., Cronbach, 1987; Kenny, 1985). This was the procedure used in the present analysis. Initially, all predictor variables were included in the model. Also included were two- and
three-way interactions between individual differences and videotapes. Variance inflation factors were used to determine the
influence of multicollinearity on the least squares estimates (see
Neter, Wasserman, & Kutner, 1983). Partial sums of squares
were used to eliminate sequentially from the model those terms
making nonsignificant unique contributions.
The multivariate regression model for violent cognitions included videotape, F(2, 93) = 248.55, p < .0001; irritability, F(2,
93) -- 3.32, p = .04; Videotape × Stimulus Screening, F(2,
93) = 3.46, p = .036; and Videotape × Gender × Stimulus
Screening, F(2, 93) = 4.44, p = .01. Predetermined video scale
scores and irritability scores were positively correlated with violent cognitions. The interaction between videotape content and
stimulus screening showed that violent cognitions decreased as
the tendency to screen out stimuli increased, especially in the
moderately violent videotape conditions. The Videotape ×
Stimulus Screening interaction was moderated by gender such
that the negative relationship between stimulus screening and
violent cognitions was stronger for men than for women.
In the univariate regression model for aggressive thoughts,
the best linear combination of terms was as follows: videotape,
t(95) = 17.38, p < .0001; irritability, t(95) = 2.42, p = .017; and
Videotape × Stimulus Screening, t(95) = -2.34, p = .021. This
model explained 80% of the variability in aggressive thoughts.
Predetermined video scale scores were positively correlated
with the number of violent thoughts listed (see Table 1). In addition, violent thoughts increased as the degree of irritability increased. Finally, videotape content and differences in the ten-
159
Table 1
Influence of Videotape Content on Mean Number of Aggressive
Thoughts and Mean Violence Ratings in Experiment I
Videotape
Aggressivethoughts
Violenceratings
The Vigilante
48 Hours
The French Connection
Soflent Green
1.60
1.33
1.22
1.33
0.05
4.95
4.85
4.40
4.70
1.45
"Dallas"
Note. Aggressivethoughts have been transformed by means of a cuberoot transformation. Violence ratings were made on a 5-point scale,
where 1 = not at all and 5 = verymuch.
dency to defend against stimulation jointly influenced violent
thoughts. This interaction can be largely attributed to the negative relationship between stimulus screening scores and aggressive thoughts in the 48 Hours videotape condition, t(18) =
-3.28, p < .005.
Videotape content was also a significant factor in the univariate regression model for violence ratings, t(96) = 18.80, p <
.0001. As expected, video scale scores and ratings of violence
were positively correlated (see Table 1). Violence ratings decreased as the tendency to screen out stimuli increased, t(96) =
-2.65, p < .009. Finally, there was a three-way interaction between videotape content, gender, and stimulus screening,
t(96) = 2.55, p = .013. For men who saw the moderately violent
videotapes, the tendency to screen out stimuli was negatively
correlated with violence ratings. For women, individual level of
screening did not influence ratings of violence. A linear combination of these terms accounted for 79% of the variability in
violence ratings.
Discussion
Experiment 1 represented an initial attempt to learn whether
people who have been exposed to televised violence are more
likely to form cognitions related to aggression than people who
are not so exposed and, furthermore, whether this tendency to
form violent cognitions is moderated by personality variables.
The results of the experiment provide some support for both
ideas. Aggressive thoughts and violence ratings both increased
with the level of violence in the videotape. These findings are
consistent with Berkowitz's hypothesis that observation of violence elicits thoughts related to aggression.
The personality variable that played the most important
moderating role in the elicitation of aggressive cognitions was
stimulus screening. The observation of an aggressive scene elicited fewer violent cognitions in high screeners than in low
screeners. It is possible that high screeners prevent or restrict
the activation of aggressive associated networks by blocking out
violent stimuli. It is also worth noting that individual differences in the tendency to screen out stimuli had their strongest
impact in the moderately violent videotape conditions.
Experiment 2
The model being tested in this study predicts that observation
of media violence primes the observer for aggressive behavior
160
BRAD J. BUSHMAN AND RUSSELL G. GEEN
by eliciting both aggression-related cognitions and emotions or
mood states that are associatively linked to those cognitions.
Experiment 2 was designed to include indicators of aggressive
emotionality: self-reported hostility, blood pressure, and pulse
rate. In addition, Experiment 2 allowed a test of the replicability
of the findings of Experiment 1 by including ratings of videotape violence and listing of thoughts following observation of
the tapes.
The present experiment differed from Experiment 1 in some
additional respects. Only three videotapes were used: 48 Hours,
Soylent Green, and "Dallas." The same personality variables
assessed in Experiment 1 were again measured along with two
additional ones: emotional susceptibility (Caprara et al., 1985)
and dissipation-rumination(Caprara, 1986). 3 These two scales
were included because of their theoretical relevance to aggressive emotionality. The personality measures were administered
to several introductory psychology classes prior to the experiment. Subjects were blocked into high versus low scorers on the
Emotional Susceptibility scale (highest 25% vs. lowest 25%) but
sampled at random on all other measures. Finally, subjects were
asked to indicate how much time in each week they spent
watching television and what percentage of this time was spent
viewing situation comedies, game shows, news, soap operas,
sporting events, and violent drama. The percentage of time
spent watching violent drama was included to provide a means
of assessing possible desensitization to violence among habitual
viewers of televised aggression (e.g., Cline, Croft, & Courrier,
1973; Thomas, Horton, Lippincott, & Drabman, 1977).
Method
Subjects and Design
From a pool of 586 students who completed the personality scales in
mass-testing sessions, 60 persons (30 men and 30 women) who scored
above the 75th percentile on the Emotional Susceptibility scale and 60
who scored below the 25th percentile were contacted and scheduled as
experimental subjects. The design of the study was factorial, with variables of gender, emotional susceptibility (high vs. low), videotape (48
Hours, Soylent Green, "Dallas"), and measurement time (i.e., physiological measures taken before, during, and after the showingof the videotape). The latter involved repeated measures.
Materials and Apparatus
An adjective checklist was administered both before and after the
showing of the videotape. This consisted of the Hostility subscale of
the revised Multiple Affect AdjectiveChecklist (Zuckerman & Lubin,
1985), with two other items from each of the other four subscalesadded
as fillers, along with one adjective ("aggressive") from the Sensation
Seeking subscale. The state version of the checklist was used. The subject's level of hostility was defined as the number of hostile adjectives,
including "aggressive,"that were endorsed as self-descriptors.
Blood pressure and pulse rate were measured by means of a Marshall
MedicalAstropulse 90 automatic digital sphygmomanometer.This instrument was fitted with long tubes for cuff inflation and transmission
of Korotkov sounds to the recorder, thereby allowingthe experimenter
to remain out of sight of the subject.
Procedure
Each subject was tested individuallyin a small cubicle. The procedure
was essentially the same as that used in Experiment 1 except for the
followingadditions. Just prior to observing a videotape, the subject was
given the adjectivechecklist, and baseline blood pressure and pulse rate
were measured. During the showing of the tape, blood pressure and
pulse rate were measured three times, at 2-min intervals. The mean of
these three readings constituted the averagelevelof physiologicalindicators during observation of the videotape. After viewingthe videotape,
the subject listed his or her thoughts, rated the video, provided information about television viewinghabits, and completed a second adjective
checklist. Finally,a posttreatment blood pressure and pulse rate assessment was made, after which the subject was debriefed and dismissed.
Results
Assumptions and Manipulation Checks
Random assignment check. An ANOVAwas performed to determine whether subjects who differed in levels of emotional
susceptibility were evenly distributed across the three videotape
conditions. This analysis revealed that the random assignment
of emotionally susceptible and nonsusceptible subjects to experimental conditions was successful, F = 0.02.
Reliability of thought-listing ratings. Two independent raters
counted the number of violent thoughts listed by each subject.
Interrater reliability was highly significant, r(118) = .82. Results were therefore averaged across the two raters.
Nonviolent thoughts. As in Experiment 1, an ANOVA was
used to determine whether videotape content influenced the
number of nonaggressive thoughts listed. This analysis showed
no difference across tapes in the number of nonviolent
thoughts, F = 0.82.
Violent thought transformation. Because subjects rarely
listed aggressive thoughts after viewing the segment from "Dallas," the variance in this condition was much smaller than the
variances in the other videotape conditions. A cube-root transformation was therefore used to educe homogeneity. The transformation was fairly successful as determined by Hartley's statistic, Fmax(3, 39) = 2.7, p > .01. All analyses of violent thoughts
were based on the transformed data.
Influence of Videotape Content and Individual
Differences on Violent Cognitions
Multivariate regression analysis was used to examine simultaneously the effects of videotape content, gender, personality,
and habitual exposure to televised violence on the number of
aggressive thoughts listed and ratings of videotape violence. The
correlation between aggressive thoughts and violence ratings
was highly significant, r(l 18) = .77, p < .0001. The multivariate
regression model for violent cognitions included videotape,
F(2, 115) = 335.36, p < .0001; emotional susceptibility, F(2,
115) = 3.49, p = .034; and gender, F(2, 115) = 3.25, p = .042.
Predetermined video scale scores and emotional susceptibility
3The Emotional Susceptibilityscalecontains 30 items that are scored
using a 6-point Likert-type scale. The coefficientalpha for the scale is
.88, the split-half correlation is .94, and the test-retest correlation is
.84. The Dissipation-Ruminationscale contains 15 items that are also
scored using a 6-point Likert-type scale. The coefficient alpha for the
scale is .87, the split-half correlation is .91, and the test-retest correlation is .81.
MEDIA VIOLENCE, PERSONALITY, AND STATE AGGRESSION
Table 2
Influence of Videotape Content on Mean Number of Aggressive
Thoughts and Mean Violence Ratings in Experiment 2
Videotape
Aggressivethoughts
Violence ratings
48 Hours
So)lent Green
1.21
1.04
0.17
8.73
7.28
"Dallas"
1.50
Note. Aggressivethoughts have been transformed by means of a cuberoot transformation. Violence ratings were made on a 9-point scale,
where 1 = not at all and 9 = verymuch.
scores were positively correlated with violent cognitions. In addition, violent cognitions were higher for women than for men
in all three videotape conditions.
The univariate regression analysis for aggressive thoughts
found a main effect for videotape, t(117) = 9.04, p < .0001.
Video scale scores and aggressive thoughts were positively correlated (see Table 2). The analysis also found a significant Videotape × Gender × Assault interaction, t(117) = -2.12, p =
.036. There was a positive relationship between physical assaultiveness and aggressive thoughts in the So)lent Green videotape
condition for men but not for women. The regression model
accounted for 55% of the variability in the number of aggressive
thoughts listed.
In the univariate regression model for violence ratings, videotape, t(l14) = 26.35, p < .0001; emotional susceptibility,
t(114) = 3.05, p = .0028; gender, t(114) = 3.00, p = .0033; assault, t(114) = 2.09, p = .039; and irritability, t(114) = -2.03,
p = .045, were significant predictor variables. Predetermined
scale values for video violence were positively related to obtained violence ratings for the same tapes (see Table 2). In addition, both those who were emotionally susceptible and those
who were physically assaultive gave higher ratings of violence
than did their counterparts who scored low on these dimensions. Surprisingly, the Caprara et al. (1985) measure of irritability was negatively related to judgments of violence. A linear
combination of these terms explained 86% of the variability in
violence ratings.
Influence of Videotape Content and Individual
Differences on Aggressive Emotionality
Self-reported hostifity. Univariate multiple regression analysis was used to analyze the number of hostile adjectives endorsed after the showing of the videotape. To control for baseline differences, the number of hostile adjectives endorsed before the showing of the videotape was included in the regression
model. The analysis found a reliable effect for stimulus screening, t(l 16) = -2.61, p = .01, and a trend for Videotape × Emotional Susceptibility × Dissipation-Rumination, t(l 16) = 1.69,
p = .094. There was a negative relationship between tendencies
to screen out stimuli and amount of hostility reported after the
viewing of the videotape. The three-way interaction showed that
the 48 Hours videotape elicited more hostile feelings from subjects than the So)lent Green and "Dallas" videotapes. In the 48
Hours videotape condition, the subjects who reported feeling
161
most hostile were those who had high scores on the emotional
susceptibility and rumination scales.
Blood pressure and pulse rate. Recall that repeated cardiovascular measurements were taken on subjects in Experiment
2. Vasey and Thayer (1987) recently noted that Type I errors are
more probable when repeated measures analyses are conducted
due to the correlated nature of the data. Repeated measures
designs carry an additional assumption known as sphericity,
which is said to exist "if and only if the variance of all pairwise
differences between repeated measures is constant" (p. 479).
Vasey and Thayer advocate the use of multivariate procedures
to analyze repeated measures data because such procedures do
not assume sphericity. Because the sphericity assumption was
violated in the present study, the cardiovascular data were analyzed by means of multivariate regression analysis.
The multivariate regression model for systolic blood pressure
included gender, F(I, 117) = 59.52, p < .0001; measurement
time, F(2, 116) = 7.22, p = .0011; and Measurement Time ×
Videotape × Emotional Susceptibility × Assault, F(2, 116) =
3.61, p = .03. Overall, men had higher systolic blood pressures
than did women. The measurement time effect is best understood in terms of the interaction. Subjects who viewed "Dallas"
showed a decrease in systolic blood pressure from baseline to
the during-tape measures, whereas those who saw 48 Hours
showed an increase. So)lent Green had little effect on systolic
blood pressure. Videotape content had a greater impact on
emotionally susceptible subjects than on nonsusceptible subjects, especially if the former were also assaultive. There was a
strong positive relationship between assaultiveness and systolic
blood pressure for highly emotional subjects who watched the
segment from 48 Hours, 17(1, 18) = 8.39, p = .0096. The predictor variables did not significantly influence diastolic blood pressure or pulse rate.
Relationship Between Violent Cognitions
and Aggressive Emotions
According to cognitive neoassociation theory, aggression-related thoughts and aggression-related feelings are associatively
linked together in the same network. The general linear test (see
Neter et al., 1983) was used to determine if aggressive emotions
contributed to the prediction of violent cognitions, and vice
versa. The general linear test indicates whether a full or unrestricted model explains significantly more of the variance than
a reduced or restricted model. The analyses showed one trend
for the aggressive thought model. The full model included the
reliable stimulus effects for aggressive thoughts (i.e., Videotape,
Videotape × Gender × Assault) and hostile mood change. Hostile mood change was calculated by subtracting the number of
hostile adjectives endorsed at baseline from the number
checked after the viewing of the videotape. The reduced model
included only the reliable stimulus effects for aggressive
thoughts. The general linear test between the full and reduced
models was nearly significant, t(l 16) = 1.88, p = .063. Subjects
who reported more hostility after viewing the videotape than
before also tended to list a greater number of aggressive
thoughts after viewing the video.
162
BRAD J. BUSHMAN AND RUSSELL G. GEEN
Discussion
Overall, the results of Experiment 2 tend to support those
of Experiment 1. Both aggressive thoughts and violence ratings
increased as the violent content of the videotape increased. Furthermore, personality variables related to aggression were
shown to play a moderating role in aggressive cognitions. Men
who were physically assaultive had more aggressive thoughts in
the Soylent Green condition than men who were low on this
variable. An anecdotal observation made in the course of a secondary analysis suggests further the possible role of individual
assaultiveness in aggression-related thoughts for men. In this
analysis, statements in which subjects made self-references
about enjoying the violence in the video segment were retrieved
from the thought-listing data. Two of the 80 subjects who
watched violent videotapes made such statements. The statements were: "At the end I would have emptied my pistol on the
guy"; and "I enjoyed the violence, it made me smile. I wondered
why I was in such a bad mood and this cheered me up. I thought
about the fight I almost got into this weekend." These two subjects were both men who were in the upper 9% of all subjects
on the Assault scale.
With regard to aggressive emotionality, the most violent of
the three videos increased self-reported hostility and systolic
blood pressure. Individual differences related to aggression also
moderated emotional responses to the most violent video. The
subjects who reported feeling most hostile after viewing this
videotape were those who were emotionally susceptible and
who were inclined to ruminate about past offenses. In addition,
systolic blood pressure was elevated for highly emotional, assaultive persons who watched this tape.
General Discussion
The two experiments reported in this article offer direct support for the theoretical model proposed by Berkowitz. In both
experiments, violent media elicited violent cognitions. In the
second experiment, violent media also evoked emotional responses related to aggression.
The findings also suggest that certain individual differences
moderate cognitive and emotional responses to violent media.
It is of some interest to note that in both studies, individual
differences had strongest effects when videotapes of moderate
violence were shown. It is possible that the moderately violent
videotapes did not present either a clearly violent or clearly
nonviolent message to viewers, so that individual differences
were not overpowered by situational cues. This finding is similar to one reported by Dodge (1980) that individual differences
in trait aggressiveness among boys were predictors of differential aggressive behavior in responses to provocation only when
the circumstances of the provocation were unclear.
The reason that personality variables influenced aggressive
cognitions when the violence was of intermediate intensity cannot be ascertained without further investigation. One possibility, however, is that personality has an effect on the encoding
processes under conditions of stimulus ambiguity. Subjects who
were either physically assaultive or inclined not to screen out
stimuli may have been more likely than their respective counterparts to attribute a clear aggressive meaning to a scene that was
in fact relatively unclear in meaning. Such imputations of
meaning would increase the videotape's potential as a priming
stimulus for aggressive thoughts or emotional reactions. In the
presence of clearly aggressive or nonaggressive scenes, however,
the individual difference variables would be less important. Under these conditions, the aggressive stimulus would prime every
observer in approximately the same way.
The approach taken here is representative of a current trend
toward more complex explanatory models of social behavior.
Markus and Zajonc (1985) recommended the development of
theories that posit the interplay of informational processes and
emotions related to internal cognitive structures. Markus and
Zajonc also suggested that cognitive and emotional reactions to
stimuli may be moderated by stable differences among individuals, arguing that these sources of variance "are not caused by
random error and need to be systematically explored" (p. 211 ).
Current work in our laboratory is in the process of exploring
whether the cognitive and emotional states that are elicited by
violent stimuli, and moderated by personality variables, lead to
overt aggressive behavior.
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Received October 13, 1988
Revision received April 4, 1989
Accepted June 7, 1989 •